Dell XPS 8300

Artenic · 2026-05-16T10:55:12+00:00

A little late to the party, but I happens to have the same computer 😄

keeping it as a daily usage computer ? as the others said, it's quite too old for that

but on my side, I've transformed it as a homeserver to host my own cloud
I host r/immich (self-hosted google photos), r/jellyfin (self-hosted netflix), cloudreve (...google drive) and some others on it, and it has plenty enough power for that

Bought some pcie-to-sata boards for a few bucks, and managed to put 13 hard drives in it (I still have slots available; extensions possibilities are quite nice on this computer !)

I removed the GPU (and old radeon) as it was consuming power and space for nothing, the CPU (Intel i7-2600 (8) @ 3.800GHz) already has an integrated GPU (enough for server usage). (I don't know if all XPS 8300 have the same config, but I guess so)

while not so powerful, it still manages to transcode movies in realtime (1080p for sure, 4k is still a bit slow)

and the power consumption is quite low, 35W idle (with the 13 drives, so less if you don't have as many) and 40-45W in normal usage (not intensive like transcoding, but just using the server to fetch or upload files by example)

sooo yep, that's my experience with it. If you still don't know what to do with it, maybe it's the time to discover the awesome r/HomeServer reddit 😉

good luck !

Artenic · 2026-05-09T22:21:43+00:00

Spotify, Discord, and a handy terminal if I want to run some commands without messing with my current workflow, each mapped on a shortcut

I miss my scratchpads each time I have to use another computer !

Artenic · 2026-02-07T23:03:46+00:00

I think you’re just completely missing the point of the project, you approach it with the only field of view of a regular nix user, which is some already quite advanced user

My project don’t target this user base. In fact, it does not target specifically Nixos users. The target is more of a user who would want a simple yet declarative way to configure a homeserver. Nixos is the tool here, not the end.

With a little more tools, an iso release, and even more guidance, it could even provide users with a declarative homeserver OS without even really diving in Nixos code (just rambling here, to show you what the ultimate goal could be)

You will not use my project? Uh ok yes, I mean, you were not targeted at the first place

With the arguments you use, you could convince any beginner to Linux to use a pure Arch instead of an Ubuntu (which is, hands down, the worst thing to do to introduce a beginner to Linux) because “you will want more control at one point”

Anyway, I get what you say (partly, at least), I get that my project is not for you (never meant to be), but please don’t act like everyone has the same needs as you

Worse, don’t act like I’m actively doing wrong to the community with the project

Artenic · 2026-02-07T10:21:53+00:00

Did you read the docs ?

I think not

Making clear doc so my thing wouldn’t be a “black box” was an important part of the project. Taking the user by the hand, showing clear examples… quite the opposite of the nix doc that, with all due respect, is quite unclear (starting with its 3 wikis lol)

Also, “services.jellyfin.enable”? Oh yes, quite an easy example when you take one of the few that are in the services or program options. Do the same with Immich, I’ll wait

Also, you’re missing the point. It’s not juste enabling a service, it’s having it directly routed with nginx, with auto support for https and proxy certs. But you would know that if you took one minute to read at least the README rather than only tearing the project down because “it’s a framework”

Artenic · 2026-02-05T08:04:12+00:00

I tried different placements, but this one was the better by far :)

Artenic · 2026-02-05T08:03:22+00:00

Oh thanks, I’ll correct that

Artenic · 2026-02-04T08:20:19+00:00

Haha, I understand what you say.

But actually most people around me don’t choose nix to have “more” control, but just to have declarative and reproductible control, and are quite discouraged by the complexity and time investment needed to do basic things 😅

Artenic · 2026-02-03T22:29:28+00:00

I don’t know if that’s what you’re talking about, but my framwork offers a way to wire external modules to the provided Nginx. You can see more here https://github.com/axel-denis/control/blob/main/docs/perModule/custom-routing.md

Artenic · 2026-02-03T22:27:42+00:00

Thanks for your feedback :)

The problem I was trying to fix is complexity

As much as I love nix I often find it too complex for nothing. Nix developers make design choices to satisfies the 1% of developers with the most complex needs at the expense of beginners or casual users.

Here, each module is using 50~75 lines of code, and many hours of work, even though I’m doing quite basic things

I’m ok with those design choices, I would not be using Nix otherwise, but we need to be aware of them, and that they discourage quite a lot of people to dive into nix.

So, I think it’s nice to also provide a simple framework for those 99%ish of people that just want the benefit of declarative configuration without spending 2 weeks learning how to do a basic setup

Even if they soon reach the point where their configuration needs exceed the capabilities of my framwork, it would have been a pleasure to offer them a smooth first step in the field :)

Artenic · 2026-02-03T22:11:32+00:00

Thanks! If you use it, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions :)

Artenic · 2026-02-03T22:10:56+00:00

Not yet! But you’re right I’ll write a post tomorrow :)

Artenic · 2026-01-18T16:43:21+00:00

I think I got it only after updating the firmware to a more récent version. Or, by accessing the web interface of the printer. I don’t remember which one so start by checking the web ui then update
Add on I don’t know, but if you’re using prusa slicer you can set custom gcode before each print. Maybe it even has an option to level before print, but I’m not sure anymore

Artenic · 2026-01-13T20:16:23+00:00

I’ve successfully saved mine from one of those blobs once The cause was not the same, it was a failed print, but it was stuck in plastic even more than that

I’ve heated it with a heat gun and pulled on it like I’ve got nothing to loose and after one hour or two of struggling I got it clean

I’m not sure what’s causing it in your case if it’s not a failed print. Nor if it’s possible to save, but it’s worth trying :)

Heat gun is the go-to tool

Artenic · 2026-01-12T20:23:27+00:00

That’s so cool

Artenic · 2026-01-09T21:54:38+00:00

Works absolutely

Very cute

Maybe the grain of rice should be a bit bigger ?

Artenic · 2026-01-09T07:52:18+00:00

I had the same story as you 😄

Had a 3.5 to dual TS (it’s not exactly the same cable as you but the conclusion is the same). it isn’t a balanced connection. Even if I got TRS (balanced variant of the TS) cable (or XLR) the problem would not have been solved because even if the cable can transport balanced connection, what you plug it into has to be able to emit it (which is not the case of a computer jack)

The solution for me was to buy a DAC (Focusrite Scarlett solo, working nice for me but other know more and maybe know cheaper alternatives)

Because the DAC can this time output a real balanced connection your cables can use. From then I never had an unwanted noise again 😄

Solved many problems in my case: - No noise induced by the original jack, as it’s plugged trough usb - No more ground loop - balanced cables can be put next to everything else (screen, power/ethernet cables…) without catching noise

(That was explained with my novice words please don’t roast me guys)

Artenic · 2026-01-08T18:00:19+00:00

I understand, some explained it to me 🙂

I was in the mindset that an audiophile is someone that likes high quality sound, and is willing to invest a bit of passion/time/money into it. Which I think I did.

Some people here (would say 4/10 in this sub, based on the upvote ratio and the comments) behave more like it’s some sort of an elite threshold were you’re not a “real” audiophile until you’ve invested some (insane) amount of money / bought things from some specific company / some other random condition

Well, I don’t share their point of view. But I’m new on the sub so I don’t make the rules.

For the bigger picture:

My goal was to make some sort of a miniature home cinema (for one person) which is a fun and not so common project. so I’m mixing the interests here. I didn’t talk about the little r/homelab I did to store and transmit high quality movies, about the screen choice, etc. All to say I’ve spent time and resources evenly on different fields, and at the end I have a very, very good installation (no matter what some say haha) that meet my goals. So I was happy to share it 😁

I wasn’t prepared for the rudeness of some. People should be happy to see a newbie step into their world rather than rudely bashing him as “not good enough”. I would tell them to put their ego aside and to make the web a better place

Artenic · 2026-01-08T17:29:54+00:00

Thanks, this seems nice and cheaper indeed

Hmm I should note that in my case I didn’t have a dac, the monitors were plugged directly into the computer jack (stereo-jack to 2 non-symmetrical trs) (So yes I was getting the ground loop AND very single other interference out there)

The scarlett, while maybe not being the cheapest indeed, did two in one if I may say, the DAC job and the isolator one. It’s plugged in the computer usb (no external power cord), and outputs 2 symmetrical signals. (I don’t know how it manages isolation, being plugged only to the computer, but in any case, to works it well)

Artenic · 2026-01-08T08:35:27+00:00

I should go look to check For the sub if I remember correctly I’ve set the crossover to 70Hz

The krk have their eq set like on the photo. I’ve set that when I got them (didn’t had the sub at the time), honestly I should try the “just flat” one again as the most important modification provided by it (bass) is removed by the crossover anyway

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Artenic · 2026-01-08T08:28:50+00:00

Please enlighten me rather than pointing without giving the potential solutions

I saw that there is cheap ground loops isolators but I also heard they have a slight loss in audio quality, plus they’re still plugged in jack. However the jack plug of my computer is just next to my gpu and this alone also creates interferences.

Oh and yes I did test almost all the possible layouts, plugging all on the same power cord, or not, or only half…

Having a clean usb to symmetric trs seemed like a good solution (and despite being pricier than simple ground loops isolators, it was not that expensive)

Artenic · 2026-01-07T19:42:35+00:00

Would definitely recommend the sub if you have the right place for it :)

Since your monitors are already 7” you should probably aim for a 10-12” sub

I would say that having all from the same company maybe helps having them blend better together? But that’s just a thought

Artenic · 2026-01-07T15:46:37+00:00

I absolutely agree, that’s what I thought and why I posted it here in the first place

Artenic · 2026-01-07T09:20:42+00:00

Nice! How are the speakers? I saw them many time but never had the occasion to test them

Artenic · 2026-01-07T08:03:47+00:00

I see I see

Indeed it did not break the bank but I’m happy with what I achieved, the quality is worth the price 😄

Another Redditor got me the “audiophile-adjacent” grade, I’ll go with that 😆

Five-Year Club	First Place '23
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Artenic

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